{"id":89588,"date":"2026-09-11T02:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/?p=89588"},"modified":"2026-09-10T21:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T17:38:37","slug":"ryanair-ceo-disputes-window-incident-claim-and-public-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/ryanair-ceo-disputes-window-incident-claim-and-public-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryanair CEO Disputes Window Incident Claim Amid Shareholder and Public Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"background:#f7fafc;padding:15px;border-left:4px solid #3b82f6;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Ryanair disputes claims that a passenger was sucked out of a plane window during a July flight.<\/li>\n<li>CEO Michael O\u2019Leary faces backlash for calling rival airlines &#8216;high-fare rapists&#8217;.<\/li>\n<li>Shareholders approved O\u2019Leary\u2019s \u20ac150m pay deal despite one-third voting against it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Dispute Over Mid-Air Incident<\/h2>\n<p>Ryanair has officially announced it will be \u201cdisputing\u201d claims that a passenger was partially sucked out of a window during a mid-air depressurization incident in July. The flight, traveling from Greece to Germany, was forced to divert after a window shattered, leaving 61-year-old Serbian businessman Ljubisa Karovi\u0107 severely injured. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2026\/sep\/10\/ryanair-dispute-sucked-out-of-window-michael-o-leary\">The Guardian<\/a>, Karovi\u0107\u2019s legal team contends that the passenger\u2019s head and arm were pulled outside the aircraft, only for him to be hauled back in by another passenger.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after the company&#8217;s annual general meeting (AGM) in Dublin on Thursday, CEO Michael O\u2019Leary directly challenged this version of events. While acknowledging the incident was \u201cvery dramatic\u201d and that the passenger was \u201csucked towards the window,\u201d O\u2019Leary insisted that no part of the passenger\u2019s body actually exited the aircraft. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t partially out the window. Part of his face didn\u2019t get out the window,\u201d O\u2019Leary stated, adding that the airline would rely on the ongoing investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n<h2>Shareholder Dissent and Executive Pay<\/h2>\n<p>The incident dispute unfolded alongside a contentious shareholder vote regarding O\u2019Leary\u2019s compensation package. Despite the airline&#8217;s strong financial performance, approximately one-third of shareholders voted against a \u20ac150m (\u00a3129m) pay deal. The package, which includes options for 10 million shares contingent on profit and share price targets through 2032, was ultimately approved by a 2-1 margin. The dissent highlights growing investor sensitivity to both operational safety incidents and the leadership style of the long-serving CEO.<\/p>\n<h2>Backlash Over Inflammatory Rhetoric<\/h2>\n<p>Beyond the safety investigation, O\u2019Leary is facing significant condemnation from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and victims&#8217; advocates for his use of the term \u201chigh-fare rapists\u201d to describe rival airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways. As reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/business\/2026\/09\/10\/ryanair-boss-michael-oleary-criticised-over-high-fare-rapists-comments\/\">The Irish Times<\/a>, the CEO defended the terminology when challenged, claiming he would \u201chappily offend\u201d competitors. <\/p>\n<p>Rachel Morrogh, CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, criticized the remarks as \u201clazy and uninformed,\u201d noting that such language trivializes sexual violence and re-traumatizes survivors. Despite these calls for an apology and withdrawal of the comments, O\u2019Leary has maintained his stance, signaling no intent to soften his public communication strategy.<\/p>\n<section class=\"related-articles azat-depth-followups\" style=\"margin:2rem 0;padding:1rem;background:#f7fafc;\">\n<h3 style=\"margin-top:0;font-size:1.5rem;color:#333;\">Follow-up Questions<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"list-style:none;padding:0;margin:0;\">\n<li style=\"display:block;margin:.75rem 0;padding:.75rem 0;border-top:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.08);\">\n<details style=\"display:block;\">\n<summary style=\"cursor:pointer;list-style:revert;color:#c95a5a;font-weight:700;line-height:1.45;\">What is the current status of the NTSB investigation?<\/summary>\n<div style=\"margin:.65rem 0 0 1.15rem;color:#333;line-height:1.65;\">\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#333;\">The NTSB is leading the investigation with Boeing, GE, and Ryanair, but no final report has been released yet<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:.55rem 0 0 0;color:#333;\"><strong>What remains unclear:<\/strong> The exact timeline for the completion of the NTSB report remains unknown<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"display:block;margin:.75rem 0;padding:.75rem 0;border-top:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.08);\">\n<details style=\"display:block;\">\n<summary style=\"cursor:pointer;list-style:revert;color:#c95a5a;font-weight:700;line-height:1.45;\">What happens if Ryanair loses the dispute regarding the passenger&#8217;s injuries?<\/summary>\n<div style=\"margin:.65rem 0 0 1.15rem;color:#333;line-height:1.65;\">\n<p style=\"margin:0;color:#333;\">The airline would likely face increased liability and potential legal settlements related to the passenger&#8217;s medical expenses and damages<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:.55rem 0 0 0;color:#333;\"><strong>What remains unclear:<\/strong> The extent of potential financial liability is not publicly quantified<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"related-articles azat-depth-perspectives\" style=\"margin:2rem 0;padding:1rem;background:#f7fafc;\">\n<h3 style=\"margin-top:0;font-size:1.5rem;color:#333;\">Perspectives<\/h3>\n<div style=\"margin:.75rem 0 1rem 0;padding:1rem;color:#333;font-weight:700;line-height:1.45;\">Ryanair Management View vs Advocacy and Victims&#8217; View<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin:1rem 0 0;padding:1rem 0 0;border-top:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.08);\">\n<div style=\"margin:0 0 .75rem;color:#333;font-weight:700;line-height:1.45;\">Story lens<\/div>\n<div style=\"display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:.9rem;align-items:stretch;\">\n<div style=\"flex:1 1 240px;min-width:0;padding:.85rem .9rem;border-top:3px solid #8bb7e8;color:#333;line-height:1.65;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0 0 .45rem;font-weight:700;color:#333;\">Ryanair Management View<\/div>\n<p>The airline frames the incident as a technical emergency that was handled correctly by safety protocols. By disputing the passenger&#8217;s account, O\u2019Leary is attempting to mitigate potential liability and prevent the incident from being characterized as a catastrophic safety failure<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"flex:1 1 240px;min-width:0;padding:.85rem .9rem;border-top:3px solid #d6c78f;color:#333;line-height:1.65;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0 0 .45rem;font-weight:700;color:#333;\">Advocacy and Victims&#8217; View<\/div>\n<p>Advocates from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre view O\u2019Leary\u2019s rhetoric as a serious societal harm. They argue that his language trivializes sexual violence and that his high-profile position makes his comments particularly damaging to survivors, necessitating institutional accountability<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ryanair CEO Michael O\u2019Leary is disputing claims of a mid-air window injury while facing sharp criticism for his inflammatory language regarding industry rivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":-1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow5Nm1DA:productID":"","_azat_image_credit":"","_azat_image_creator":"","_azat_image_copyright":"","_azat_image_source_url":"","_azat_image_license_name":"","_azat_image_license_url":"","_azat_image_acquire_license_url":"","_azat_image_rights_status":"","_azat_image_caption":"","am_featured_image_credit":"","am_featured_image_creator":"","am_featured_image_copyright":"","am_featured_image_source_url":"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/dea4d47041d836262df2d75f596a73196ecaf069\/359_0_3574_2861\/master\/3574.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none","am_featured_image_license_name":"","am_featured_image_license_url":"","am_featured_image_acquire_license_url":"","am_featured_image_rights_status":"unknown","am_featured_image_caption":"","_azat_threads_post_url":"","_azat_threads_article_post_url":"","_azat_threads_image_post_url":"","_azat_threads_video_post_url":"","_azat_youtube_video_id":"","_azat_youtube_video_url":"","_azat_youtube_shorts_url":"","_azat_include_in_video_stream":true,"_azat_auto_publish_channels":"[\"x\",\"facebook\",\"instagram\",\"threads\",\"bluesky\",\"linkedin\",\"youtube\"]","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4429,57773,19556],"class_list":["post-89588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","tag-aviation","tag-michael-oleary","tag-ryanair"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/michael-oleary-ryanair-ceo.jpg","_embedded":{"wp:featuredmedia":[{"id":-1,"source_url":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/michael-oleary-ryanair-ceo.jpg","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89589,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89588\/revisions\/89589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azat.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}